Decoupled inputs sliding mode controllers for a fuel cell-supercapacitor module in hybrid generation applications

The development of Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) sliding mode control setups for a fuel cell/supercapacitor module is presented in this paper. The main objective of the proposed controllers consists in simultaneously satisfying the demand and regulating the DC bus voltage, even in the presence of model uncertainties and strongly varying operating conditions. Two design approaches are utilized to synthetise different control setups, each one capable to robustly deal with such control challenges: on one hand, variable-gains first-order sliding mode and, on the other, supert-wisting second-order sliding mode control. The stability of the nonlinear controlled system is formally analysed. Extensive simulations are conducted, to comparatively assess the performance of the proposed MIMO sliding mode controllers. Both control setups exhibited highly satisfactory results, demonstrating robustness to external disturbances and parameter variations, proving to be more suitable than classic linear PID controllers.